JACKSON - Talks on overhauling bison hunting rules to better check the booming population of the animals near Jackson attracted just six area hunters and outfitters Tuesday night, reflecting some officials' doubt the changes will dramatically help cull the herd.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has been using hunters since 1998 to help control the growing bison population in and around Jackson Hole, and it is hoping to ease some regulations to help manage the growing herd.

Bernie Holz, wildlife supervisor for the Pinedale/Jackson region, said Tuesday the department is seeking to eliminate a mandatory hunter orientation and proficiency-shooting workshop for bison hunters.

"We're just on the edge of having an increase in bison hunting," Holz said, referring to a forthcoming study looking at reeling in bison numbers. Teaching the class, he said, would become burdensome with more hunters. "The problem is, as soon as we're hunting them, we can't deal with the increased contact with hunters."

There were 729 bison in the Jackson herd as of this winter. Game and Fish spokesman Mark Gocke said there are about 100 new calves this year.

The bison hunt had stopped in 1990 after some groups called for a formal investigation into the population objectives for the herd and restarted in 1998 after herd objectives were set.

The current objective number for bison is 400, but that number may change with the elk and bison environmental impact statement expected this fall.

"Our intent is to make bison hunting much more like hunting any other species," Holz told the group.

Proposed changes to bison hunting rules include defining what "edible portions" are, and require hunters to retrieve these portions to a camp or processing plant within 48 hours.

The department also hopes to add two license types for a longer hunting season. The licenses would allow a male or a female or calf to be killed anytime between Sept.1 and Nov. 30. This would extend the window in which a hunter could kill an animal.

Currently, there are licenses issued for 50 cow and 25 bull bison per year. Licenses are issued according to a priority list, and there is a 46 percent success rate with cows and 96 percent success rate with bulls.

Holz said more licenses for bulls are not being issued because they spend a lot of time in Grand Teton National Park and "we're having trouble getting more than 20 or 25 killed."

Most of the Jackson Hole bison spend their time in the park or on the National Elk Refuge, meaning hunts take place on Bridger-Teton Forest Service land near Shadow Mountain, primarily, and in Curtis Canyon east of the elk refuge.

"I think this is an in-between step and I think if we can get hunting on the refuge again, that's where our big management needs will take place," Holz said. Bison hunting on the refuge will likely be addressed in the forthcoming federal study.

Bison can cause habitat destruction by trampling grasses and vegetation, and can cause property damage on private lands.

Gocke said he didn't anticipate much of an increased interest in bison hunting because of the new regulations.

"Those people who want to hunt bison were probably putting in (to the drawing) no matter what," he said. "The main point of all this is bison are growing at a rapid rate and we have virtually no tool to control it."

An out-of-state license for bison is $2,110; in-state cost is $330.

The new bison regulations will be voted on by Game and Fish commissioners during a July meeting in Pinedale. If approved, they would go into effect this year.

Public comments are being accepted through June 18, and may be sent to: Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wildlife Division attention: regulations, 3030 Energy Lane, Casper, WY, 82604.